Becoming a Flower
by elsolverde
Summary: 'When I called him by name, he became a flower.' Jack and Rapunzel become worthy only when they face each other. HumanAU. The story of how the abandoned ones become abandoned no more. Not so light and as cheery as the typical Jackunzel fics.
1. Chapter 1

**He was simply a mere gesture**

**before I called him.**

**But when I called him his name,**

**he came to me**

**and became a flower.**

**...**

**Flower/Kim Chunsoo**

_Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..._

The shadow that long, fine eyelashes made danced slowly over big green eyes as flame of the fireplace wavered. The girl with long, long, long and fine golden locks unconsciously sighed in deep thoughts, looking into the glowing fire, shaped like a flower. A red and passionate one. She was hugging her own legs and had her chin on her knees. Tip of her bare toes that stuck out of a thin blanket was tapping the carpeted floor as she sang the Christmas song.

_ Jack Frost nipping at your nose-  
_

Rapunzel stopped humming when she heard Eugene, who was lying on the sofa behind her, chuckle.

"What."

She wrinkled her nose, demanding for the reason of his chuckle. Eugene shrugged.

"You are singing it with completely wrong melody," he stopped the words and took his time to change his position into a more comfortable one, and then added, "as usual."

He yawned lazily. Rapunzel wrinkled her nose again, not so happy about Eugene's comment - or criticism, was what Rapunzel thought. She never cared about the correct melody. Never _knew_ - would be the right words but whatever. She learned the lyric of that Christmas song from one of many books her mother_s_ brought _home_, among many other songs. They never taught her how to sing them, though. Never. That was why she sang the song differently every time. She did not mind it, oh she never did.

Neither did_ he_. _He_ used to sing along the messed-up song...

"Hey."

Startled by Eugene's voice, she stopped daydreaming, thinking about herself years before. Before she escaped the prison. Even before she knew that she was in a jail. Of course, it was not an actual prison where she was born and lived until sixteen, but at least she felt like it.

"You should sleep.

"Oh."

Again, she nearly floated deep into her thoughts. Rapunzel's voice cracked a little as she spoke.

She was not crying. She really wasn't.

It was just because she did not speak for a little while.

Well, she did not shed tears when she thought about her previous _home_. That was what Eugene found strange yet impressive. For such a small girl, small as both in size and age, she was strong. He always thought that if he was in her place, he could not have lived through the whole thing. Her life was that tough. Eugene, the drug smuggler, saying he was not able to survive what Rapunzel did, was a big deal. A big, big deal.

"Okay." She replied after clearing her throat. Eugene threw her comforter, and though it was quite heavy, she caught it with ease, since it was a part of their usual routine of the night. Throwing the comforter and catching it, that is.

"Gotcha." She ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair. Eugene told her to cut it whenever he could, at least half its length, but she strongly refused. It was the only part she liked about herself.

"Such a great job, Rapunzel!"

His teasing words made her laugh a bit.

Their_ usual_ routine. She knew she was drifting, again, into her inner mind, but she couldn't help it. It had been nearly half a year since she left where she had been living for her whole, short life. She was thinking about her past. A lonely one. She always had to hide. She had to stay in the shadows after she became eight or nine, she couldn't remember. The funny thing was that even now, she and Eugene were hiding, being cautious to make sure that they are not caught by the police. It was not so different from her early teen years. And yet, it was different. Definitely different because she was not alone. Also, often did she meet other people, including purchasers(to sound professional, but technically junkies) and fellow smugglers. How decent acquaintances, she thought. Decent.

"Ready for America, blondie?"

Finally, she got out of her thoughts.

"Not sure." She shrugged. And then she yawned. After stop thinking about the past, the sudden tiredness flooded all over her. She never knew she was this tired.

Rapunzel pulled the worn-out, once-upon-a-time-white-but-now-grey comforter over her. Before lying down on the mattress, she glanced at the brunette man on the old sofa. She scanned her eyes over his fit, muscular, but not to muscular torso under the winter blanket and asked, "A goodnight kiss?"

Eugene grinned with his eyes shut and shook his head. "Nope."

Rapunzel groaned at the same response as every other night. "Why? I love you."

Eugene didn't even wince at her words. He simply shook his head again and she bit her lips. The thing was, even when she was saying the three-words-eight-letters, she was not sure what they even meant. Like the Christmas song, she only read it and never heard, smelt, seen, nor felt it. It, being, love. She did not know love. She just presumed that she was in love with Eugene because princesses in fairy tale books always fall in love with their saviors. Princes. Although she was not an a princess material and nor was Eugene a prince one, their situation kind of fit to those stories - her, locked up in the _prison_, and him, dramatically rescuing her by getting her out of there. So Rapunzel thought it was highly logical for herself to be in love with Eugene.

But she did not know love. And Eugene knew that.

"Nope," he repeated the word. "You don't, blondie."

'Yes, I am.' She thought of arguing back his words but she didn't. Maybe a part of her was admitting that she was ignorant of the thing - love.

However, even before thinking about it, sleep pulled her deep into darkness, where she could be free as she was now but at the same time, could be as much locked up as she was for the last sixteen years.

And... could it be...?

That she felt a cold winter breath tickling her cheeks right before falling asleep?


	2. Chapter 2

Rapunzel was leaning against a dirty concrete wall at the end of the dead end of downtown. It was a dark night, with only few star lights on the sky. It wasn't quiet though, with clubs and bars just around the corner. It was Friday night. Or was it Saturday? She could not recall. Anyway, it was the day when nearly all the people in the village just bump into each other, heavily drunk. It was when bad ass minors snuck into dirty clubs. Also, it was when the junkies had the highest hopes of being high. (Well, technically, this was not true, since they wanted drugs as much as they did now for the other six days, which made a whole, complete, seven days. They would not be junkies if they didn't.) After all, it was why Rapunzel was standing there. She was waiting for the customers.

And they were late.

As usual.

It was no surprise. If any junkies were to be on time, that would be the end of the world. Addicts were always too far away from the reality that they were never keen to the concept of time.

'Oh, wait.' Rapunzel frowned a little. 'Does that make me a drug user?'

She shook her head and let go of the silly thought as the very first customer of the day showed up at the opening of the snow-covered alley. She let go of the tip of her own hair and pulled her head further inside the hood.

"Ya da runna?" The addict slurred and it sounded like his tongue was barely doing its job. By the smell of strong alcohol, she could tell that he was addicted to more than one thing. She nodded and waited in silence.

"Coke." It almost sounded as '_cack_' to her but she never said anything. Rapunzel pulled her right hand out of the pocket of her jeans. Nothing was on it. _'Do not hand over the item before the payment is done.'_ Just as Eugene taught her.

When the junkie handed her a few bucks, his unclean, chewed-up fingertip touched her bare palm and for a moment, she was thinking of yanking away her hand, but she didn't. Eugene told her that they should be leading the whole thing. They should be the confident ones. Or else, junkies would notice that they were frightened and try to take over the situation. Threats with jackknife, it was occupational hazard for dealers, Eugene said. 'So no freaking out.' She slowly breathed out. It was not her first time of standing at the drug dealing spot, since she had been accompanying Eugene out on the field quite a few times when they were in Canada.

However, it was her first time alone. Since Eugene was rather a well-known smuggler, treating relatively large quantity, Rapunzel was covering up small, unimportant stuffs for him. She was, in fact, an unknown figure in this field. And the innocent, naive looks and her pink colored cheeks were hard to believe that she was part of the crime. Police would overlook. That is, under the light, though. In the dark alley, with caps and hood covering more than half her face, she was a typical drug dealer. If she finish her job clean and safe in the darkest shadow and go out into the light, no one would suspect her.

After counting money and checking that it was the right amount, she handed the man in the ragged clothes what he required. He seemed to be high already, just by grasping the small plastic bag and feeling the fine powder in his hand. The junkie staggered out of the dead end, leaving zigzag footprints on the thick blanket of snow. As he walked out of the alley, a wind blew and shook his greasy hair. Soon, he was out of Rapunzel's sight.

She let a small sigh escape out of her mouth and moved back to where she was previously standing. Right in front of the wall. Before she put her freezing hands into the front pocket of her big size, black hoodie, she hesitated. She had been thinking that the concrete wall reminded her of one back in Canada where she spent sixteen years. The wall that blocked the whole world out. A monstrous barrier that devastated her, screaming 'There is no freedom for ya lil gal!' out just by standing there. This one that she was now facing was not as tall as the wall, though. If she stretched her arm up, she could touch the top of it where layer of snow is piled. Back in the prison, she couldn't.

Rapunzel stretched her hand to the top of the wall. Under her hand, icy snow gave her a shiver but she did not pull back. Top of the wall, she was now touching.

And it was where he was sitting when they first met, when she was five. Four? She could not say for sure. But it was just like the day, snow covering all over the place. And he had both his feet bare.

She could still remember the exact color of the bright, icy cold blue eyes, as much surprised as hers.

Those eyes were the only good thing about the tall wall of the building.

Rapunzel scooped up a handful of snow. In seconds, strong gust of wind that blew into the alley made snow in her hand to fly all over her face. She grinned and opened her mouth to taste the snow.

Cold. Cold and frosty.

Then she remembered the story that Eugene told her about disguising drug powder into snow. Her grin got bigger.

Eugene never demanded her to get involved in his work. It was she who insisted on doing so. She could not rely on Eugene to feed, clothe, house and take care of her. He already had done more than enough job by taking her out from the place and now he was babysitting her with no reason. He was not in any way related to her, that was for sure. ('Oh, wait! I love him and that makes us a kind of relationship, right?' was in her mind for a second but quickly drifted away.) Therefore, she had to pay for all the great deeds he had done and was doing for her. That was why she was taking care of the small, not so important works.

'Just be careful,' was what he said.

'I am not a scaredy little girl.' She frowned. She never liked being treated as a weakling.

'You aren't. I know, but...' he hesitated.

'You know...'

She knew. Of course she knew. He was about to talk about the place where she managed to escape with his help and how full the place was with junkies and how much she despised them, but he backed off because Rapunzel rarely talked about how she lived before, even to Eugene who knew quite a lot about her life.

Thinking about it, it was an irony for her to participate in this job. The whole drug smuggling.

But it was selling drugs, not being forced to take drugs. And after all, she was not afraid of them. She simply hated junkies for their choice of wasting their lives in the silliest way.

She was different from those women. Her_ mothers._

Rapunzel felt sick. Her grin was long gone.

She stepped back from the wall and turned away from it. It gave her contradicting feelings that she couldn't bear. For now, at least.

She took a deep breath, and hoped that other life-losers came earlier than usual. She wanted the night under dark shadow to be over soon. She already spent enough time in the shadow before and now she should be enjoying more sun, or moon, or any sort of light.

Maybe she could take a stroll around the small, dirty town of North Dakota tomorrow under sunshine, which would be her first walk around the place since she got there a week ago.

* * *

**an: Hola, readers! I wouldn't be able to upload this often but being the first two chapters, I rushed a bit and wrote them down with full enthusiasm. Anyway, thanks for reading and believe in Jackunzel, people!**


	3. Chapter 3

Another foot kicked his stomach hard. On the exact same place as the previous one. Exactly.

Jack groaned inside as he tried to back off to minimize the damage and pain, but he was always cornered. He could feel the hard wall on his back and cursed inwardly.

"What was that?"

Uh-oh. Maybe he said the f word louder than he thought. Jack bit his lips for his stupid mistake and tried to get mentally ready for the next strike. He really should not bite his lips when he was beaten up since it would cause more bleeding but he couldn't help it. It hurt so much. Plus, if he let his moan slip out of his mouth, the stupid, sadistic and worst of all, drunken bullies would be satisfied. He wouldn't let it happen.  
So for the next few minutes, Jack rolled his body and silently endured kicks and punches thrown onto him.  
In anytime, it was going to be over. That was what he was keep reminding himself. 'Those fucking stinkbrains will just fuck away anytime soon.'

It was the same magic spell that Jack had been wishing to happen for the rest of his life. Not his entire grim life, to be exact, but fairly a lot and lot of time. Every time he was beaten up, he kept himself in silence and waited until it was all over.

In fact, his silence was the reason for this whole bullying, malicious boys wanting Jack to show fear and to be afraid of them, but a stubborn Jack wouldn't let go any sign of defeat. That irritated harassers' pride and they would hit him harder and harder.

Nonetheless, Jack Overland kept them frustrated by not making any sound. It was the same that night.

He should have known that Hans was close to these dumbheads. He had already known that Hans was never really fond of him no matter how hard he tried to be likable. That was actually the whole point about him getting out of the orphanage this late at night. Hans came up to his and the other three boys' room and asked him favor to fetch the backpack he dropped at a sweet shop earlier that day. Being the eldest one at the orphanage and also not wanting to lose the chance of getting along with the younger one, a new boy in town, he got out of bed and headed downtown.

When he was fast walking with his jacket on, he was surrounded by familiar faces with smirk on them. It took him only seconds after then to realize that there was no backpack after all when they said how smart kid Hans was.

So there he was now, again beaten up for some kind of reason that a girlfriend of one of them was being nice to Jack. Nice, meaning smiling toward his direction. Stupid, _stupid_ reason.

"Hey, white haired weirdo. How do you feel now?"

Jack was seriously thinking of spitting on the guy's face to let go of his back hair out of his grip. It was not that he was unable to fight back but because it will do him more harm. Fighting one, that was possible for him but now he was facing six. Six fucking boys whose brains were presumably even made of muscle tissues. No thinking neurons there, he was quite sure. Anyway, from many years of being beaten up, the quickest way to finish the situation was to say nothing. Of course begging them to stop it and do whatever they say would be a quicker way to stop being beaten up, but as stated, he did not want to give away his last pride. Never making them satisfied. Be a man even when you are beaten up.

'Quite a manly thought for a boy who has been going through this for more than half his life.' Jack teased himself inside his mind.  
So instead of spitting, he was about to glare into the guy's eyes, which would earn him few more punches and kicks, but not as harsh as the possible consequence of spitting, when he saw a golden light shimmering behind the ugly guy's back.

A golden light at this peach black, dark night? Jack narrowed his eyes to see it clearer.

At the end of the alley, a figure was standing. He or she, he could not tell because the face was hidden under the cap and hood and the person seem to have worn too many layers of oversize clothes that there was no sign of feminine curve, but too small to be a boy. A young boy? 'Nah, little guys would, and should be in bed by this time.' So a woman? Not sure.

The golden glimmer he caught in sight was gone in less than a second that he thought maybe it was a mere illusion. He blinked hard to blear the bleary eyesight and watched the still-standing figure at the other end.

He, she, whatever sex is, the person in big black hoodie was thinking of rescuing him from the bullies. At least it seemed so in Jack's eyes. How sweet. Sweet and brave even just for the thought of it. He felt grateful.

'Thanks for stopping by, but you should go.' He wished the person could hear his words scattered all around inside his head.

'It is dangerous here. Just go.'

No movement.

'Arrgh!'

"Feeling good, huh?" The group burst in laughter and Jack had to gain all his strength not to groan loudly.

'Please go.' He was starting to feel ashamed to be beaten up in front of the mysterious figure. Embarrassment. It was a rather new feeling to him because he had been bullied for years and he was getting used to it. Few times, he was beaten up in front of other students because he punched bullies one or two in their face. He could even make fun of himself about his pathetic situation. So why, he did not know, why on earth did he feel embarrassed all of a sudden, just because a total stranger was watching him?

He did not know why. He just wanted the person to go away and the muscular pigs to stop.

Jack closed his eyes. 'Please go.'

And when he opened it again in seconds which felt like hours or days even, the figure walked away. And they stopped. Was that some kind of telepathic connection? He did not know this either.

Anyway, it was all over. Finally.

"Shall me strip him?" The guy who was kind of a leader of the gang said and chuckled. 'Not funny.' Jack snorted. If he was going to take him off his clothes, he would fight back. Beaten up was one thing. Taking away pride was another.

Surprisingly, (or not, since they were the little ducklings tagging at their leader and without much guts,) the other guys shook their heads. "He will freeze to death."

"Who cares?" 'Then you will be locked up in prison for good, you chicken head. Oh, gosh, you are so stupid.'

"We will go to jail for killing him."

'Smarter than your boss, huh? Impressive.' He wanted to laugh.

"Okay, then..." His voice dropped and Jack thought they were walking away. He tried to sit up from his cramped position. It was then when the boy took Jack's shoes off his feet.

"Ha ha!" He shoved his shoes deep into a pile of snow and dust his hands. "Didn't see that coming, did ya?" The group walked away with a pleased boss bully in the front. Soon, they were out of the dark alley.

"Shit," was the first word Jack said out loud in an hour or so.

He slowly stretched his legs. Under his bare feet, he could feel the softness of snow. Soft yet freezing. So freezing that it almost felt hot. Once, he used to like the coldness. He used to like how snow could be both delicate and fierce at the same time.

However, snow contained too much bad memories that it hurt him now. So, he stopped thinking about the snow and stood up to go get his shoes.

"God, it hurts."

He was glad he could speak out loud, although no one was there to listen.

* * *

**So the first appearance of Jack! and it was ugly, wasn't it? Bullying is bad, people.**


	4. Chapter 4

Morning sunshine was gently caressing Rapunzel's eyelids. It was like warm tongue licking her over closed eyes.

"Umm..." She murmured. Maybe she forgot to close the curtains last night. 'No, wait...' she thought lazily. She did not forget. She just didn't. Just because she did not want to put her hands on the dirty cloth. Everything was unhygienic in this small flat, in fact. Dried slimes incrusted on the sink of the small kitchen. And leather sofa that had been torn apart. And stained wall papers. And windows that had not been washed for years, that blocked the view of parking lot with full of flivvers outside. Not that she was complaining, because she was always grateful about where she was now. Anywhere was better but her mothers' place. But it would have been better if she could see the snow-piled parking lot. Layers of pure and white snow made junks look beautiful, even though they were junks.

It was strange that she had been living her whole life where more than half of the year was covered with snow, and yet she was not tired of seeing it. It made her imagine as if she was in a fairy tale.

It was funny that above all stories she read, her favorite were still old fairy tales. All too cliche and too candy sweet for a girl locked up in a dreadful reality. Yet, those cheesy tales were the only thing she could cling onto among brainless giggly women and horny men running dirty hands all over them.

It was her asylum. It made her feel loads better when she was daydreaming. Dreaming about all those unrealistic, childish stories and wanting them to be true. Wanting the magic and fairies to be true.

And she was quite sure that one of the fairies was real.

Real as real and solid. A real figure, actually, not a delusional one, no matter what Eugene said about him.

She was thinking about him when she heard a large snoring. Rapunzel groaned, feeling her last remaining sleep go away. She was pretty much enjoying herself being half awake, half not.

"Eugene..."

After half an hour of dawdling in bed, she finally opened her eyes.

The first thing that got into her sight was the blurry sunshine coming through the dirty window. Then she turned to the clock on the wall.

The longer hand was pointing somewhere between ten and eleven.

So it was not _that_ morning after all.

Rapunzel wrapped the comforter around her shoulder and slowly walked out of the bed. She felt like a princess wearing a dress with long cape as the end of the comforter brushed against the floor. It was all silly, extension of early thoughts about fairy tales, but it was a pretty fresh opening for a day that she couldn't stop acting silly.

That was why Rapunzel was twirling on her tiptoes when she tripped on the blancket and nearly collapsed. She stumbled out from the room where she was sleeping but managed to stay on foot.

It was a pretty lousy sight and she was glad to see that Eugene was still sleeping. She would have blushed if he saw it.

However, she was blushing nonetheless, but for an entire different reason. Eugene's morning wood was clear under his leather pants. She was not really fond of those man-things on men, even though she had seen plenty of chunk of meat swinging between their legs when she was hiding under the bed once.

"Eww, think I'm going to puke." She shouldn't have thought about that one terrible night when she had to try so hard to close her eyes and ears tight not to see and hear all disgusting things.

"...huh?"

Rapunzel quickly turned her face away from Eugene's pants and mumbled, "morning?"

"Uh, what, blondie, what the-" Eugene turned his half-awake eyes to where she was previously watching. When he realized his hardness, Eugene nearly jumped in surprise and fell from the sofa.

"You drank," she simply said as she could smell alcohol from him, and he nodded.

Hearing him groan in pain on the floor, she lifted her eyes from down her toe and slowly said, "You know, you can... you can bring women home if you need."

"What was that?" He was still groaning from falling off the sofa and half listening to her. "You can bring hookers if you need to satisfy your sexual desire." Now she was speaking up.

"WHAT?"

Eugene's eyes nearly popped out of his face but she merely shrugged. Her facial expression was blank and it did not reveal any sign of distaste, fear, or judgment. After a few seconds of examining her face and her blanket-covered frame, which was rather big, since the comforter was thick, he stared back her eyes.

She was not moving an inch from where she was standing.

"You..." he drew a deep breath and continued, "you really shouldn't be saying as if you don't give a fuck."

Rapunzel bit her lower lip but she quickly let go of it. "I don't mind."

He frowned.

"You know I'd feel guilty."

"You really don't have to."

"But I will eventually. So drop this now, okay?"

She said nothing but nodded. Eugene once told her that it is not abnormal to develop any trauma if anyone was in her shoes but she hated to be treated like a victim. Eugene was not an assaulter and she was not a victim. He wasn't the cause of her past. So she felt sick whenever Eugene tried to say that he was sorry but she knew that he was being nice to her.

After a few moment of awkward silence, it was Eugene who broke it.

"So you came home safe."

Smiling a little, she turned her eyes to see that now he was sitting up, leaning on the bottom of the couch. "Yup. Safe and sound." He lifted his thumb up.

"Good. Where's the money?" She pointed the kitchen table with her chin A wad of crumpled bucks was neatly put on it. "Aren't I professional?" Rapunzel asked in a joking way. "Sure are," Eugene chuckled as he scratched his forehead and added, "impressive."

So she was feeling good about doing her work properly and thinking of what she was going to do rest of the day when she heard Eugene say more. "You keep half."

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"You heard me."

"But I-" Eugene cut her off.

"You owe me nothing. How many times do I have to say that?" She scowled and had her arms crossed to express that she was pissed off by his comment.

"I am not living off you. And you do know that _you_ owe me nothing, don't you?"

"Of course, I know! How could I possibly owe you when I am sharing my flat with you?" Eugene sighed when she still seem unconvinced as before.

"Blondie, I am just giving a fair share to my colleague. Half of what you earned last night would be enough to pay your rent."

The comforter which was dangling from her shoulder fell off since her hands were no more holding onto it. Stir of dust was followed by a dull thud but Rapunzel was still. She glared at Eugene for long enough before she quietly spat out, "Don't you dare to pity me."

"Never."

She did not let go of her angry face yet, so Eugene said in a singing voice. "Just a fair share."

Seeing her loosen her face, he gave a sigh of relief and yawned. Eyes half closed, he murmured, "For your first earning, you should bring us some hot, fresh donut."

"Oh... okay... from where?" she asked absent-mindedly.

"Cafe, bakery, wherever donut is." Was that not obvious? She felt dumb.

Picking her comforter up, she asked Eugene whose eyes were now completely closed, "Going with me?" even though she was almost sure of his answer.

"Nah," he replied as she thought. Crawling back onto the sofa, he murmured, "I need more sleep."

So she left him there and went back to her room to take a quick shower and get changed.

When she got out of her room in mismatching layers of clothes and an old, outdated pink coat on top of it(she was planning on buying some cheap, warm and _decent - less girlie_ second-hand clothes sooner or later) Eugene sounded fully asleep. However, he wasn't, apparently, since he spoke to her when she was reaching for the doorknob and nearly had her heart jump out of where it should be.

"Hey, Rapunzel."

She swallowed all the cursing words inwardly and managed to reply. "What." Actually, it came out calmer than she expected.

"That's not love."

Rapunzel raised her eyebrows at his out-of-blue comment.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Telling me to have sex with others if I wanted."

She stepped back to face Eugene, but his eyes were shut tight.

"You'll realize when you meet someone."

She rolled her eyes. 'Like that's ever going to happen.' But again, she said nothing, knowing that he was being nice to her as always.

* * *

**All of this is a part of the development of the characters and the back story, AND Jackunzel will eventually meet AND it will not be far. I promise!**

**Plus, ImagineDragonz7, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS AND I APPRECIATE YOUR KIND WORDS. I hope I don't let you down but feel no pressure to write a review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Shell shaped wind chime that hang on the top of the glass door made a clear melody as Rapunzel swung it open. As she stepped in the door, a puff of wind followed along and flew tiny ice crystals in the air. She blinked her eyes to shake off snow from her lashes. She brushed her fur hat as well. From her fingertip, she could touch not-so-smooth fake fur of it. It was fake fur but that grey-ish hat was one of her favorite pieces she bought at the boxing day in a second-hand shop downtown. It even had earmuffs attached that kept her ears warm and safe from frostbites - what her long golden locks used to do. Her hair did its job of keeping ears warm okay. But the replaced one was much warmer.

"Early as ever?"

The chime rang loud and clean again as the door closed and Rapunzel turned around to face the old man in a white apron and with glasses at the back of the counter of the bakery. His kind and greeting smile hung under a big, round nose. Moving few strands of hair away from her eyes, she gave him a small smile back.

"Good morning, Mr. Fredricksen."

Her shy voice nearly failed to reach the old man's hearing. It had been almost three weeks since she first visited Carl and Ellie's to buy some bread, but she still felt somewhat awkward every time she made a small talk with Fredricksen while picking bread. It was not a bad-uncomfortable feeling, but she couldn't socialize with him heart to heart. Maybe that was because_ he_ was a man, or because he was a grumpy-sweet type of old man who asked how her morning was in a rough manner, or because she did not give away her full name.

_"Punz Gothel_," was the name she told him when he grumpily said, _"I'm Carl Fredricksen, as in the shop's name,"_ when she stepped into his bakery for the first time weeks before. She didn't feel like telling her real name to anybody she meets, considering the nature of her_ part time job_,(should she call it that?) and also the fact that she was a runaway, even though she was 99.9 percent sure that they would not be searching for her. She wasn't even properly employed like them.

But anyway, it did not explain why she chose her name to be like that. _Gothel_. Her meanest mother. She really couldn't tell why her name popped out of her mind when she knew like twenty other mothers' last names. Was that because she was most intensely stamped on her memory? In fact, Gothel was who forced Rapunzel to _work_ with her and other mothers. Rapunzel practically loathed her.

However, because Gothel pushed her into the room, that exact room where Eugene was waiting for service, she was able to escape the place after all. In that perspective, maybe she should be grateful for Gothel.

That positive view did not make Rapunzel get used to her fake name, though. She was just glad that Fredricksen was not that rigid to call her _Gothe_l or _Miss Gothel_ instead of Punz.

"Had your New Year's day fine?"

Grabbing herself a tray to put bread on, she nodded. "And you, mister?"

"Nothing special. Usual ball drop on TV."

"Me, too."

Then she heard a low ruckling sound from Fredricksen's throat. She tried not to roll her eyes and fixed her eyes on custard cream. She was not sure whether the old man was frustrated by her short reply or not. 'Did it sound too rude? Was it too short?' She chewed her lips few seconds before giving all her efforts to face up.

Fredricksen was trying to scratch his back with a pen.

'Oh.' Biting her lip again, but this time to keep a straight face, she put her tray of bread on the counter. Sniffing loudly, Fredricksen threw the pen away unpleasantly - maybe because he failed to scratch the right itching spot - and ran her eyes over the bread.

"Sixteen seventy five." Fredricksen began packing her bread in a light green paper bag. Glancing him sidewise, she pulled out dollars from the back pocket of her washed-out jean to pay for her loaf of bread, two cupcakes with blueberries on top and pecan pie.

As soon as she paid the money, he shoved the paper bag in her face. "Here you go."

"Thank you, sir." "Mmm." He nodded. His eyes stared Rapunzel from back of his square spectacles. Those used to carry wariness at first, but they were now less wary of Rapunzel. They were old and somewhat lonely. She'd been thinking that something might've happened to _Ellie_, possibly his wife, but never asked.

Instead, she smiled.

(She never knew, but her smiles made Fredricksen less lonely. They were sweet, even on her lipstick-less lips.)

Just before she put her free hand on the glass door to push it open, Fredricksen's grumpy voice called her.

"Shouldn't you wrap yourself more in this snowy weather?"

Rapunzel examined her clothing - jean and big black hoodie she wore last night and one or two thin shirts under it. Then, she shook her head.

"I think I'm fine. And besides, it's warmer when it snows."

Mr. Fredricksen raised his eyebrows which made Rapunzel smile bigger. "At least it's what I feel." and she added, "Snow hugs me."

The old man looked into the girl's big green eyes. Her eyes were as green as spring and yet she was so fond of winter. Fredricksen wondered whether she was lying or not about being over age. Maybe she was. She was a secretive person, a mysterious girl that did not talk much, and yet she talked like a naive child once in a while. And she loved snow. Children love snow.

"Have a good day, Mr. Fredricksen."

Her voice startled him from his thought and Fredricksen saw her smile.

"You too, Punz."

The door chime sang a graceful song as wind blew in.

* * *

Jack saw the door swung open and a small-black-furry female stepping out. He sled down the snow covered, slippery street to reach the door before it was closed but he wasn't fast enough. Wrinkling his nose, he pulled his hand out of the pocket and pushed the door open. 'Oh, it's not that freezing,' he thought, touching the glass door.

"Hello, Mr. Fredricksen."

"Louder, boy, you know damn well about my hearing!" The usual fussy voice greeted him and Jack grinned.

"You really should have a new girlfriend, Carl. That's what Ellie would want."

Jack managed to duck down and avoid something that flew directly toward him. He turned around to see that it was crinkled bread sheet. He put both his hands up as a sign of surrender, as Fredricksen poked his walking stick at his direction.

"Ellie would think it is you who needs a girlfriend, you pathetic impolite teenager!"

He tried not to wince at his words.

"Carl. I am good on my own."

It came out cheerfully, more jokingly than in his thought. In his mind, it sounded gloomier, more of a loser, a loner.

Nonetheless, Fredricksen seemed to realize the slight change in his voice. In fact, he was one of very few relationship Jack had and he was wise and caring, no matter how grumpy he sounded. He was like a fatherly figure for him. Or grandfatherly.

So instead of keep nagging Jack, he said in a softer voice, "Only if you have a nice girl like her beside you."

Jack turned his face to see where Fredricksen was staring and saw the long blonde hair dancing in the air with snow and wind. She was crossing the street so he could only see the back of her small frame. She must be the one that he saw coming out from the bakery minutes before.

"It's interesting..." "She sure is a swee-" "...to see how girls can have that long hair and still manage to wash it every day."

He laughed out loud as Fredricksen scowled.

"Silly boy... what do you need?"

Now they were back on their usual, joking-and-roaring relationship. Chuckling and picking up loaves of bread as the director told him to, he asked him the best way to spend his last weekend of the winter break.

"Adventure, it is."

'What a vague and unrealistic answer. Thanks."

Jack had to dodge again to avoid the walking stick.

"Go anywhere but your room, Overland."

He felt as if his weekend plan was seen through by Fredricksen. But of course he knew that Jack was planning to stay inside, avoiding snow and other mean kids.

Jack rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Okay, I'll try."

* * *

**Thank you, again for your fan-girling review :) I don't know my story even worth your words!**

**And yes, Carl Fredricksen as in Up of Pixar Animation! I think many other characters from Disney and Dreamworks will appear in the story as well.**

**Hope you enjoy!**


	6. Chapter 6

She tried to shake off the big, firm hand on her arm in her sleep but the grip got tighter. "No..." she moaned, craving for more sleep.

"Hey, blondie!" Eugene shook her harder and Rapunzel was forced to sit up straight in bed. Eyes half-closed, she growled angrily.

"What!"

"I'm going out. There is a meeting."

"Okay." She rubbed her eyes in attempt to rub off sleep, which was pretty much effortless. As a matter of fact, she felt as if the act made her sleepier. She looked at the clock and checked that it was ten past three. The sun shot orange light into the room's dusty window. So she slept for hours after coming back home from Carl and Ellie's. "And?" She murmured.

He spoke something more but she didn't catch it since just after asking him for other reasons of the sudden wake-up in her deep, honey-thick sleep, she stretched herself with a big yawn. Narrowly avoiding to hit him in the face with her fist while stretching, she asked again. "Sorry, what was that?"

Watching her so relaxed in bed with her messy hair that hasn't been washed yet and the desire for sleep all over her face, Eugene laughed. A book next to the pillow was closed with its back cover facing up the ceiling and slices of pecan pie stayed on the small bedside table. It seemed that finally after three weeks, she made herself home and comfy in this flat which was placed on the first floor of the shabby, three-storey building right next to downtown. She made her routine walk down to the bakery. She even borrowed books from the town's public library.

It was good to see her loose, as if she was at home. A real home.

Eugene didn't know why, why exactly, but he felt that he had to look after Rapunzel. There could be few reasons - number one could be the moment they first met; back when she glared him with extreme hostility in her eyes. The frying pan in her hands was a desperate sign, that signaled him not to lay a finger, a toe, nothing on her body. She was fragile, was a poor girl, only few inches away from becoming a product herself, like many other women, or _her mothers_, in the district, for many men. Guilty, because he was one of those men.

Now that he took her out from the hell she lived for sixteen years, he felt responsible. It was her very first step outside the real world although she argued that she knew everything she has to know about it from books. Like mother bird watching its babies try to jump out of the nest and try flying for the first time - maybe less intense feeling than that but still, he watched over her.

A little, naive sister was what Rapunzel like to him. So he felt relieved when he saw her much less stressed out and anxious than before. He was doubtful that he would be able to stick around her forever though, considering his occupation and her nature (and maybe his thought that Rapunzel needed to live in a brighter world, not a criminal one, hiding in the shadows). That was why he wanted her to stand on her own feet as fast as she could.

"Oi!" Eugene got out of his thought when Rapunzel clicked her fingers right in front of his face. "Oh..."

She smirked, which was a sign that she got more comfortable with Eugene. She never smiled at first, and then smiled, grinned, chuckled, laughed, and now, she was even smirking. A big improvement for their relationship.

"You never drift away."

"No, I don't." She lifted her eyebrows. "So what got into you?"

He shrugged. "Nothing."

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes.

"So... what was that you said but never reached me?"

"Oh, that. It was just that I will-"

But before Eugene even began his sentence, a four-legged giant creature burst into the bedroom and Rapunzel shrieked. "What on chameleon's chopped-off tail is that?"

"It's Max. How did he fucking got out of the leash?"

The yellowish white dog barked while jumping around the tiny room. "Hey, Max. Come here." Eugene tapped the bed and called the dog but Max merely growled and started sniffing the floor.

"Arrgh, that stupid dog never listens to me."

He ran a hand through his hair and glanced Rapunzel. Then, he was shocked to see her jumping out of the bed for the dog. He hastily said, "No, no, no, no, blondie. That is so not a good idea. He's a hunting dog and he isn't so friendly-"

"Hello, love?"

Eugene stopped his talking. "What the..." He couldn't believe his eyes. The fearsome, notorious dog that took him weeks to just pat on the back and months to get along fine was wagging tail! He saw Max jump up to reach Rapunzel's upper body and sniff her face as she giggled.

"Oh, hello, Max? It is also a great pleasure to meet you! Is he a surprise present?"

"Mmm, no."

He crossed his arms as he watched Max act charming in front of Rapunzel. He wasn't really pleased to see such sight. Or should he? They were getting along well. That was a good news, actually.

"Then what?" Now she was on the floor, kneeling and hugging Max's neck.

"He's a kind of guard to keep you safe." "Safe?" She tilted her head as if questioning its meaning.

"Yes. While I am absent."

Rapunzel winced. "Are, are you going somewhere?"

"Out of state for about one or two weeks for smuggling."

"Today?" If she had big fluffy ears like Cocker Spaniel, her ears must've been dropped low on the floor, he thought. "No. Two weeks later," and he quickly added, "Don't worry. Max will take care of you."

"Okay." Nodding slowly, she faced up to look into his eyes. Those piercing, innocent eyes. For a second, it seemed not so assured, but next moment, she was smiling slightly and turned her face toward the dog.

"You'll take care of me, Max. Okay?"

Eugene smiled. He felt betrayed to see Max so docile with a pretty little girl when he was all aggressive to other male-people, but he could tell that Max will watch over Rapunzel sincerely.

He got up from the bed when she shouted out abruptly.

"Wait, wait! No, no, no! _I_ will take care of _you_, Max. Not the other way around." Eugene snorted and she glared. "_Not the other way around._ Okay, Eugene Fitzherbert?"

"Okay, okay. Please do take good care of Max when I am gone, will you?"

"Okay, I will." She now looked satisfied to get his answer.

'That little girl with her own pride and spirit.' He chuckled inwardly and walked out of the room.

"For your information, I'll go to library to return the book." She shouted from her room.

"What a big work you got to do! Good luck with it." "Shut up, Eugene."

* * *

Surprisingly, Jack was actually going to take Fredricksen's word seriously and go on a adventure - that is, out of his comfort zone - his room back in the orphanage. He planned to go somewhere he hadn't been in the town, since he didn't have any transportation to go far and take a real, fancy adventure.

It was around three o'clock in the afternoon when he was done with the chores and errands at the orphanage. Other three boys in his room were in their puberty with bad temper and were nowhere to be seen. That was what Jack feel more lonely. The oldest boy besides him was fourteen, four years younger than him. They used to be scared of him when they were younger, when Jack first got into the institute at seven with rumors dangling behind him.

Rumors that made him loner.

He bit his lip and tried not to think that the other way around could be a true statement as well and got out of the orphanage with his one and only winter jacket on.

"Adventure it is," he said to himself. "Where shall I be going?"

There were few places he had in mind. 1. The southern end of the town where the closed fairground was. But the place was known to be the gang's territory. The teenager gang that beat him once in a while. So it was not a good choice of place, unless for people that expect a rather extreme, violence-mixed kind of adventure. Jack was not one of those people, so 'Screw number one,' he thought.

2...

2...?

What was number 2...?

He groaned. He couldn't believe that he just forgot where he would go in this tiny-winey town. Was it because he was stupid?

He was walking around the downtown, trying to come up with the second place he was thinking of right before. For now, it felt like a bigger challenge than going to any other adventurous place he could think of.

Jack was so focused in removing the mind block that he did not realize that he was wandering, walking down the familiar street, nor that it was no more snowing, nor that the sun was quite ready to set and beamed in orange.

* * *

**Thanks for waiting for the story, ImagineDragonz7, and I assure you that in three chapters, they will talk for the first time! It's all set and waiting for me to write it off! Enjoy, enjoy!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here goes chapter seven!**

* * *

She was literally stamping her feet on the ground in front of the entrance floor of the public library. Rapunzel felt so dumb that she never knew dogs aren't allowed in the library. Maybe that rule was applied to other public areas as well since some people can be allergic to or scared of dogs, she thought. (Yes, she is a fast learner.) 'Well, then, at least I learned something today, huh?'

"No!" she groaned out loud at her inner self and Max glanced up to see if anything was wrong. Rapunzel crouched down in front of him to meet his eyes and sighed. "Now what should we do, Max?"

Maxx seemed as if he didn't have much of a thought. He soon quit staring back at her and started rolling in the neat pile of snow. The big Kuvasz easily blended in with snow and not in a second was covered in it. His curly fur was coated and he was whiter than his usual self.

"Having fun, baby?" Max barked happily. She wrinkled her nose but Max was enjoying himself anyway. She had to brush off the snow that spattered her face while Max was playing. He was splashing the snow all over the street which was presumably swept clean and making quite a mess out of it.

Blinking and puffing to avoid snow in eyes and mouth, she calculated time. 'Nope.' Not possible. She hadn't got enough time to go back to the flat to drop Max by and come back to return the book. She wished there was someone who was going in the building that she could ask for but the stairway was empty. The street was empty.

'Why don't people read?' No, that was not the point of the current problem. No. 'Why was she so excited about walking Max and why did they spend too much time strolling around the same street over and over again before coming to the library that she didn't have time left to go back to their flat and come back?' This was it.

Max licked her frozen hand holding _Pride and Prejudice_ at the sound of her anxiety slipping out from between her lips. After chewing her bottom lip for a few more seconds, she made her mind and stood up.

"Okay, okay, Max. Listen."

Max pricked his ears as he understood her words. She breathed out deeply and went on. "I'll run up the stairs and toss this book to Hiccup as soon as possible and run back." He purred like a kitten when she scratched him under the chin.

"I'll tie you up here, so don't go anywhere. Just stay and play with the snow like right now. Got it?"

She wasn't so sure but Max barked something like a 'yes.'

"Okay... okay... I'm going... and I'm coming back." After a final, worrisome glance on the white dog, Rapunzel began her sprint up the stairs.

* * *

"Shit!"

He didn't mean to shout out and flinch so foolishly like that but he couldn't help it. He stepped onto something mushy, stumbled and fell on the street on his buttocks. It wasn't snow for sure. For one, it had certain shape unlike snow. Plus, it made a whining sound when he stepped on it.

A BLOODY WHINING SOUND. Followed by a low growl.

And a sniff, too.

He wished his eyes were closed from the first time and he never saw those shiny, sharp teeth and pink gums. A white dog was glaring down at him and he couldn't run away because he was under the dog.

"Oh my stupid, fucking god."

It seemed that the dog could hear and understand him, since it began to growl louder when he cursed. Clever dog. It wasn't a very good time for complimenting what was going to attack him, though.

He slowly crawled back, trying not to breathe and spur the dog more.

"Easy. Easy." He murmured and wished that the dog could understand and hear this word, too.

Thankfully, the dog didn't make any more aggressive movement other than growling, and Jack was nearly out of the dog's reach when his foot accidently kicked the dog's stomach. It was a soft kick, more of a nudge, but the already offended dog barked loud in his ears that he thought he could lose his hearing.

Jack winced at the numbness of his ears. Lifting his right arm to defend him from further attack, he shouted, "Sorry there, bud, I really didn't mean it!"

His body was tense on the snowy street. The angry dog might bite him and tear him apart. He was never bitten by a dog before. It would hurt, wouldn't it? He once saw one of the bullies wearing a cast after bitten by a hunting dog. The boy bragged about how he had beaten up the dog before he was bitten. Later, the others found out just before the dog bit the boy, he was chased by the dog and was showing his heels because he threw a stone at it. He laughed about it at the back of that ridiculous boy for throwing a stone at it. It was like literally asking the dog to come and bite him.

And now, there Jack was, in a quite similar situation like the silly bully he scoffed at. Although it was a mistake, it was doubtful that the dog could say the difference between it and intentional bugging. He blamed himself for vacantly wandering around the street, struggling to come up with the second place for adventure that he once had in mind but lost it in his head.

Then he realized that more than a minute passed without anything happening.

He opened his eyes and saw that the dog had backed off. Was it possible that the dog...

"Understood my words?" The dog blinked.

"Does that mean 'yes?'" Blink.

Boy, was he not clever? He sat up straight, cross-legged on the ground and faced the dog straight for the first time. The dog was sitting up with wariness still in its eyes.

"You are a boy, right?" He assumed it because the dog was quite handsome. "Or are you a girl? Your eyelashes are quite gorgeous." Blink again.

Jack realized that he was talking to non-human creature and looked around to see if there was anyone that could pick on him was nearby. Fortunately, the street was empty except for the dog and him.

"So are you lost? Why are you here alone," then he added self-teasingly, "like me?"

Blink again. The dog was still with its tail stiff. He knew that it wasn't a friendly sign, although the dog wasn't growling any more. It was examining Jack.

Then, Jack saw that it had a shiny leather collar on its neck and was tied to a leash. "Oh, you are waiting for someone."

"So you aren't alone." HIs nose wrinkled. It came out sour. Before long, he felt lonelier than ever. Sitting on the bare street, talking to a dog, a big one and not so intimate to him, it was all pathetic and so loser-like and so... himself.

He ran his hand across his white hair and stood up from the ground. The dog faced up and stared at him.

Jack waved at the white dog.

"Bye bye, you brainy buddy. Thanks for not biting me and I hope your waiting ends soon."

'I kind of envy you.'

The last sentence was on the tip of his tongue but was shoved back down his throat. Envying the dog for having someone to wait for was far too wretched. He couldn't speak it out. Sighing a little, he walked away from the dog, not knowing that he was watching his back all along.

* * *

And there was also a girl watching him.

Rapunzel.

She thought she could throw up her heart that was beating so fast when she looked out the window at the stairways between the third and the second floor to check on Max. In front of Max, there was a boy.

The white haired boy.

_It was him._

She couldn't see his face because Max was blocking him. The only part she could see was his white hair that was so similar to the color of winter. Color of the snow. The ice. The frost.

She knew that it was him. She never saw anyone else in her whole life with a white hair, not even a bleached one before, none other than _him_, so it had to be him. (Except for the elderly, which Eugene liked to joke about whenever she came up with the subject.)

For a moment, she couldn't move due to the overwhelming fact that finally, finally she had found Jack Frost. She was paralyzed. She was trembling.

She thought she was going to scream but she didn't.

Instead, she started to run down the stairs. She felt as if she was going to stumble and trip but she managed to maintain the strength in both her legs. She was so glad that she had made the part-time librarian's - Hiccup's acquaintance in the past few weeks and was able to just throw the book at him to return it and run back down. She was glad that she chose to visit the library at the first day of her walk around this town and meet Hiccup. It saved her much time.

Now, she was running towards him. After a long time of waiting. Years too long, but always with belief. Belief that they will meet someday.

She was nearly out of breath but Rapunzel couldn't stop running. She had to meet Jack.

So in a few seconds, she was on the lobby of the library's base floor. She dashed out of the building and jumped down the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

Her heart was racing, but it was not just because of the running. It had never been running like that, not even when she was escaping from her mothers, not even when she was crossing the border and becoming free at last.

However, when she stepped down the stairs, she was greeted by none other than a briskly barking Max, wagging his tail with delight. Rapunzel's eyes grew bigger than it already was. "Where is he?" She looked around in anxiety. "Where did he go, Max?"

The dog did not answer. She kneeled in front of him and held his snout.

"You've got to tell me, Max! This is important to me!"

She put her forehead against the dog's.

Max merely blinked. "No, no, no. Max! Please! Oh, god..."

She was panting and pleading, but Max didn't give her the answer she begged for and the mysterious white hair was nowhere to be seen.

Later that night, before going out for the drug dealing, Eugene came back home. He said he was just dropping by had to go out again. When he was picking up a cupcake she bought earlier that day, she stepped out of her room and screamed out. "I SAW HIM!"

Eugene casually replied. "No, you didn't. He's invisible."

"Not to me!" She snarled. "I really saw him in front of the library. And so did Max!"

"So did you, you big doggy?" Rapunzel narrowed her eyes at his teasing words.

"It was Jack." "It sure was a cold weather." he mumbled with a mouthful of cupcake. "I am not joking."

Eugene sighed at her sharp, tense voice and swallowed the blueberry cupcake. "Listen, blondie. You might've mistaken him with Max's white hair."

"No, it was him."

He had no other choice than saying, "Okay..." Then he asked, "so what happened?"

Rapunzel bit her lip. "I lost him." "Why?" "By the time I reached where I saw him, which was in front of Max, he was gone."

She looked so down. It was as if she was going to cry. He had never seen her cry, so Eugene quickly walked toward her and hugged her, thinking that she needed some comfort.

But she didn't cry. She pushed him away and stubbornly said, "I really saw him." There was some kind of resoluteness in her bright green eyes and he could see it.

"He is here." Eugene couldn't regard a determined Rapunzel as if she was in a childish dream because she was never really a dreamer. "Okay," was the only word he could say, wholeheartedly wishing that the white haired frost fairy in those fairy tales and in Christmas songs actually existed.


	8. Chapter 8

A day after the glimpse: she was at the front of the town's library all day long with Max, from eight to five and caught no sign of any white hair. Instead, she got herself a cold. Meanwhile, the giant white dog stayed playful in the piles of snow. Not many people showed up since it was Sunday.

Day two: even though Eugene warned her not to stay out too long, she went to the library and stayed there for long enough for her cough drop not to work. She was buried in the grey scarf and big thick clothes and sitting on the staircase. This day, she didn't even leave for lunch. She wanted to meet him that badly, and plus she didn't have strength to stand up. Hiccup, the part-time librarian with a metal leg was on his way to work after school and nearly freaked out when he saw the big, round, human-shaped clothes on the bottom of the library's front stairway. After finding out that it was none other than Rapunzel, he sighed in relief and said hello. She smiled back. But she didn't answer when he asked what or who she was waiting for. Hiccup had to go inside the library building not long after, because of his part time job and Max growling at him and the icy, slippery road not exactly adequate for a prosthetic-legged boy.

And, still not a glimpse of Jack Frost. Max was a bit bored that they were staying in the exact same spot for three days in a row.

Day three: Max was in a bad mood. He was bored. He constantly asked - by staring and whining - to go somewhere else. Rapunzel couldn't overpower the big dog, bigger than half the size of her, and she had to leave the street earlier than the past two days.

No Frost.

Day four: No Frost.

Day five: she was losing hopes. She was thinking that maybe he flew away without leaving any goodbyes - this time, there was even no hellos after all - like he did years ago.

Day six: she thought she was doing fine dealing with the cold but no she wasn't. She had fever and headache that Eugene banned her from going out - like parents grounding their children. He even did the dealing work she used to do at night. Normally, she would've fought for him treating her like a baby, but now she was actually sick and weak to argue. After all, Eugene knew how she felt about locked inside, so she assumed there was a pretty good reason when he told her not to go out. 'Better to be well sooner before it gets worse, huh?' She persuaded herself.

Day seven: she had this great idea that she snicked out from her bedroom. From more than enough sleep and water-drinking and pee the day before, she was feeling much better that Saturday. So she shushed Max even though Eugene was out that afternoon, armed herself in warm clothes to defeat the cold, and headed to the library, again.

When she arrived at the familiar street, she tied Max where she did a week ago. "I'll be right back." The orange sunlight was lighting the snowy street like it did a week before. "You can't let go of him this time, Max, okay?" The dog blinked.

Her brilliant idea was that Jack Frost may appear on the exact time and day at the exact place of the week, if she was was watching down the street from behind the window of the library.

And her idea was...

"Err, the library is closing so you should leave ma'a- Punz? What are you doing here? I didn't remember seeing you borrow books from me today- or did I?"

...a total waste.

She gave the brunette boy a weak smile and walked down the stairs, out to the street where he didn't show up.

Eight days after _the day_: She went to Carl's and nearby convenient store to buy herself some sweets for refreshing. Fredricksen asked her whether she was okay, saying she didn't look well. She said she was all fine, getting better from the previous cold. Then he murmured something about the looks on her big eyes but let it go soon that she couldn't catch what the old, grumpy (and caring) man was going to say.

So, more than a week passed by and the second Monday since the day she saw - 'thought she saw' was what Eugene was thinking - just thinking though, not to offend Rapunzel. Although Eugene said he could handle the job, she went out for the dealing job last night and came back home at about two a.m. And now, six thirty in the morning, she was wrapped in the comforter, deep in bed. After the small work at night, she used to wake up early for Eugene and her bread at Carl's, get back home and have breakfast while Eugene is asleep from his other tougher job, work that she didn't know in detail, overnight and replenish sleep before or after reading a book or two. However, she wasn't in the mood for an early morning walk. Instead, she burried herself deep down bed, feeling like she was going to drown.

It was then when Max jumped on the bed. The mattress shook as the dog put his big front paws on the bed. The blanket was dragged down the carpet as Max barked cheerfully at Rapunzel.

"No, Max." She groaned without opening her eyes. "I'm staying this morning." Max was wagging his tails too fast and vigorously that she could hear it. He barked again, wanting for their usual morning line-up - walk to the library.

"Sleeping!" Eugene shouted sleepily from the other room and Max barked along happily. Maybe he thought Eugene's voice was joining his barking party, persuading Rapunzel for their morning walk. And it kind of worked, actually, seeing that Rapunzel had to walk out of bed to calm the dog at least.

Max was tenacious than usual that morning. Normally, he was a nice, handsome doggy to Rapunzel but that day, he was being stubborn and persisted in going out to follow their routine. He held the hem of her nightgown gently between teeth and kept pointing to the door with his snout. His shiny brown eyes were shouting out for walk, for cold fresh air oustside. If he could talk, he would be saying like, "Please, plea-se Punzie? I want to go out! We should go out!"

She groaned, less frustrated though. His begging looks were too cute to be pissed off.

"Okay, okay. We're going out."

* * *

They were on the other side of the town. Although she came out from bed as Max desired so much, she wasn't really happy to be out in the clean sun, where she couldn't find him for a week. She didn't feel like walking down the same street as always - to the library. The air was soda-like or shooting star-like cold just as the usual winter days.

Frosty.

Her heart ached. After fourteen years or so, she thought she had found the one that made her childhood bright, brighter than ever in other time. She had been believing all her life that he never left her side.

But maybe he wasn't. Maybe the winter fairy from fairytales was nothing more than a fairy from the childhood story. Maybe he really didn't exist, like what Eugene constantly said.

Maybe the boy from her childhood was no more than an imaginary friend that she made up to bear the harsh reality, even before she realized that it was harsh.

Not only somewhere left in her chest, but her fingertips throbbed, too, as if she got a cramp.

It seemed better when she had only a mere hope, when she believed that the frost fairy was out somewhere, flying freely all around the world. She never doubted her belief in Jack back then.

And now, after she witnessed the white hair, whoever he was, she was starting to doubt about him.

The thing that made her heart ache was not just that she couldn't find him but that she was questioning his existence.

Rapunzel sighed. Snow that once cheered her up was freezing her mind. Part of her mood was due to her only half-recovered health condition. And presumably her period was near. Anyway, it was quite clear that she wasn't in the mood for getting along with a playful Max.

Rapunzel fixed her hold of Max's leash when he tried to sprint. She raised her head from the snowy street, smiling a little. "What made you so energetic, baby? Huh? What was th-"

She gasped.

She couldn't finish her sentence when her eyes were set on the snowy white, white and tousled hair from across the road. Just like the other day in front of the library.

No. More than that day. This time, she could see his pale face, too.

"It's him."

She was so stunned that she whispered to herself.

Jack Frost was walking down the street from the other side of the road. It was Jack for sure. She wasn't mistaken. She wasn't dreaming or making up. He was there. He was there.

His symbolic white hair was wrestling with a strand of wind.

Her heart was aching, now because of the hard pumping.

And he was walking away from her.

As soon as she realized that, she tried to cross the road to catch him up. However, it was hard for her to catch the timing when many cars were coming and going by. She never knew that the town had this busy traffic. Walking in hurried steps, stamping her feet, she followed the mysterious white hair from across the road with anxiety that she might lose him again.

"Jack..." she didn't know she was repeatedly calling him unconsciously.

"Jack."

Max was jogging along her, Rapunzel was nearly running while the white hair was walking in a normal pace, not knowing a girl and a dog was following him. He had his hands in the pocket of his tight brown trousers and was carrying a worn-out backpack but Rapunzel didn't recognize. Her eyes were fixed on his hair and his left cheek, and she was busy trying to find out if he had the beautiful blue eyes of the frost fairy.

She stumbled when she saw him walk in the wide-opened gate of the snow covered ground. She made her second attempt to cross the road but Max pulled her up from the asphalt road and immediately after that, a car passed by right in front of her. She nervously looked around only to see more cars running. 'What should I do.' She panicked. She thought of calling him loud but she hesitated. She never said his name out loud before. 'What should I do.'

When she decided her mind, crossed the road while avoiding the fast drivers, and reached the gate he went in, he was gone out of her sight.

Again.

However, this time, she wasn't in despair. Not anymore. It became crystal clear that there was a white hair boy in this town, and he went to-

"Berk High." She read the letters from the banner on the fence.

Rapunzel hold her long golden locks out from her hood and sighed deeply. Max made a small sound of curiosity and Rapunzel looked down to face the dog.

"I guess this is where I should start the proper search, Max." The dog sniffed and licked her hand. His tongue was like a smooth sandpaper. She crouched next to Max and smiled.

It was no longer a weak, sad smile though, the smile that worried Fredricksen. Rapunzel's smile now carried the peppermint freshness in the hopes of finally meeting the fairy.

Her heart was dancing joyfully now. The bubbly liveliness was reflected on her bright green eyes, too.

* * *

**Hey, readers! Long time no see? I was thinking of coming back on this Sunday, after this really important exam I have but I brought back another chapter earlier than I planned. And I see my readers have multiplied! or quadrupled - at least what I see from the reviews. Guess I bid thank you-s for all of you wonderful girls, and maybe boys, too...?  
Oh, I'll quit chatting and submit this document, upload the fresh new chapter! Hope you all enjoyed. (and p.s.1. I don't abandon my stories unfinished so don't worry. p.s.2. Next chapter and the two will talk as I promised!)**


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